Plek blog

How to onboard new employees, effectively and efficiently

Written by Arthur | Mar 15, 2023 12:21:30 PM

Optimal onboarding is your greatest weapon against employee churn. There’s a lot of research into retention strategy as the labor market tightens - many companies are still failing to provide a robust programme dedicated to onboarding meaning that 17% of new employees leave within three months, many much sooner.  With positive onboarding, it is 58% more likely that someone will stay with their organization for three years or more.

Onboarding specialist consultants report that an optimal onboarding process will not only increase retention of new employees, but the positive feelings will endure and spread to longer serving employees, too.

The 4 C’s of onboarding 
Designing your onboarding program to accelerate the way new employees progress through your organization is key to retention. Your onboarding plan should take account of the 4 C’s of onboarding to ensure success. This approach can be further boosted by using Plek’s onboarding app, with information released in chronological onboarding phases.

Compliance 
Preboarding can be a helpful addition here - letting your new starters view and onboarding document detailing basic policies, processes and employment requirements they will need to follow in advance of their start date. This can save time, so you can focus on the in-person onboarding journey.

The information you disseminate should cover both the generic employee information covering areas such as benefits and safety procedures, and then also the role specific information that will support new starters in their job.

Clarification
This is an important phase in the onboarding model. You can resolve any misinterpretation or missing information that could lead to a new starter receiving the wrong impression about your company values. It’s also a great opportunity for new starters to get quick answers. Expect to receive a variety of questions ranging from strategic objectives to stationery purchasing.

Connection
Using an app for onboarding is extremely efficient during an onboarding trajectory. Plek is ideal as an onboarding tool at this point in the onboarding model, facilitating a two way conversation during the onboarding of new employees. It allows you to measure impact with data-driven dialogs asking onboarding users to feed back on their experience.

Culture
Onboarding new employees must emphasize the importance of company culture and provide every opportunity for the new starters to integrate and feel comfortable in their new role. You can employ either a physical or hybrid approach at this stage, the critical element is the onboarding in app that connects them both to the organization culture and each other. This can be achieved through an onboarding game, conversations via the Plek app, or an office based onboarding training session.


4 basisprincipes voor optimale onboarding



 

What does optimal onboarding of new employees look like?
You should now invest as heavily in retention as any recruitment exercise, and an onboarding app is a quick and easy win that gives new employees a great start and engages existing employees with the onboarding flow.

Expediting the development of new employees has a huge impact on your business objectives. The resulting loyalty and commitment you will see after a positive onboarding tips the balance in favor of a happy workforce who want to succeed.

Deciding what onboarding must meet in terms of company goals is vital, but also think about the personal expectations and achievements that your new recruits want to achieve as they advance their careers. If you can make a clear link between personal and company objectives, engagement will be stronger and more likely to endure. Plek’s HR onboarding app gives you sharp insights right from the onboarding 1st day, which communicates to employees that you are listening and acting on their feedback right from the start.


Using an onboarding template

Plek’s widely tested templates support your onboarding process as employees gradually become integrated into your way of working. We start with preboarding and continue to reinforce your positive messages and key information beyond the initial introduction period. It’s a warm welcome underpinned with everything both employee and employer need to build their relationship. Plek helps your company to increase your grip on the 4 C’s of onboarding.

Why choose Plek for your onboarding?
Simply put, our onboarding services allow you to get on with what you do best as a company: providing a memorable experience for new starters within a tried and tested structure that really works.

We know that onboarding isn’t about burdening your new recruits with rules and restrictions. The information you provide them should allow them to connect with your mission and inspire them to think about their own contribution to achieving this. It should be a coherent narrative that feels inclusive from day one.

It also doesn’t end with the final onboarding session and it isn’t just for new employees. Continuous onboarding can be used for staff who are transferring to a new role or department, after an organizational restructure or a significant change in company purpose and output.

Let us make onboarding easy for your company
Contact us and one of our consultants will be happy to tell you more. Or take a free tour via the link below, which will show you all the details of our product.